Folding seat.



No. 633,399. Patented Sept. l9, I899.

SR. &. B. H. COURSEY.

G. P. STREET,

FOLDING SEAT.

Application filed Mar. 8, 1899.)

2 Sheets-Sheet (No Model.)

W/ TNESSES A 77'OHNEYS.

(No Model.)

WITNESSES (Application filed Mar. 8, 1899.)

I Patented Sept. l9, I899. G. P. STREET, Sn. &. B. H. COURSEY. FOLDING SEAT.

2 Sheets-Shaet 2 GEORGE PARKE STREET, SR, OF ELKTON, AND BENJAMIN H. COURSEY, OF SHARON GROVE, KENTUCKY.

FOLDING SEAT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 633,399, dated September 19, 1899.

Application filed March 8, 1899. Serial No. 708,232. (No model.)

To (1 whom, it may concern:

Be it known that we, Gnoncin PARKE STREET, Sr., of Elkton, and BENJAMIN II. COURSEY, of Sharon Grove, in the county of Todd and State of Kentucky, have invented a new and Improved Folding Seat, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to improvements in seats or chairs particularly adapted for use in churches, theaters, halls, schools, and the like; and the object is to provide a seat or chair having both its seat and back arranged to fold to one side, thus leaving a clearspace or passage-way between the side frames, rendering the device particularly useful when it is desired to quickly clear a room of an audience and also facilitating the operations of a person sweeping.

lVe will describe a folding seat embodying our invention and then point out the novel features in the appended claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a folding seat embodying our invention, showing the same in its closed position. Fig. 2 is a perspective view showing the seat and back in folded position. Fig. 3 is a section on the line 3 3 of Fig. 1, the seat and the back of the chair being in the position shown in Fig. 2 and the desk being in the position shown in Fig. l.

The seat or chair comprises two side frames, each consisting of a back-post 1, a seat-rail 2, an arm 3, and legs 4, which are hereshown as having foot-pieces provided with openings through which screws or bolts may pass to secure the frame to a floor.

Mounted to swing on one of the back-posts 1 is a back 5, which at its free edge has a spring-controlled latch 6, which is adapted to engage in a keeperin the opposite back-post. A spring 7, coiled around a pintle 8, arranged in a recess 9, formed in the back-post, to which the back is hinged, has one end bearing against the rear side of the back-post and the other end bearing against the rear side of the back 5. The spring-latch (l is arranged in a recess formed in one of the side pieces of the back 5.

Hinged to the seat-rail of the side frame to which the back is attached is the seat 10,

which at the rear side of its hinged end has a boss 11, which is inclined downward and forward on its under side and adapted to be engaged by a pin 12, extended from a side rail of the back 5.

To prevent any possible spreading of the side frames one relatively to the other, we provide the flange on the seat-rail with a channel 13, in which a rib 14 on the free edge of the seat 10 may engage when the seat is in its operative position.

\Vhen it is desired to swing the seat and back to a folded position so as to form a clear passage-way between the side frames, the upper end of the latch 6 is to be pressed in a direction to release it from the keeper in the back-post. Then the spring 7 by pressing against the back will cause it to swing 011 its pivots or hinges, and during the swinging motion of the back the pin 12 by engaging with the inclined surface of the lug 11 will cause the seat 10 to swing upward, and at this same time the parts will be in the position shown in Fig. 2.

\Ve have shown the side frames as made double, so that each side frame will form a support for two seats and two backs, and thus the several seats may be arranged in, line and close together, as is required in churches, theaters, concert-halls and the like.

\Vhen it is desired to use the seat or chair for school purposes, we employ a desk in connection therewith. This desk consists of a box-like structure 15, open at its front and having a closure 1U adapted to close the said 0 opening and also designed to form a portion of the top of the desk when in open position. This closure or leaf 16 is hinged to the top of the box-like structure 15 and may be held in its open position by a bar 17, mounted to swing 5 on a stud extended downward from the top board of the desk and adapted to engage underneath the swinging portion. The closure may be held in a locked position by any desired means. \Ve have here shown it as pro- 10c vided with a keeper 18, adapted to be engaged by a spring-pressed bolt 19, movable in lugs 20, fixed to the bottom of the box-like Structure 15, and from this bolt 19 a fingerpiece 21 extends downward through a slot in the bottom of the box-like structure.

From one end of the desk longitudinallyslotted brackets 22 extend outward, and the inner ends of the slots are enlarged, as at 23, so as to pass over the head 24 of a supporting-rod 25, extended from a back-post to one of the side frames. W'hen thus supported upon the supporting-rod the desk is to be drawn transversely of the seat or chair, so that the supporting-rod passes into the narrower portions of the slots in the brackets, which will prevent the desk from moving outward over the head 24: of the rod 25. The opposite end of the desk is provided with a lug 26, designed to engage over a supportingrod 27 on the back-post opposite to that with which the desk hassliding connection. This connection of the desk with a seat or chair permits of its being swungdownward, as indicated in Fig. 2, between the side frames of the seat or chair that is, by lifting the end of the desk to clear the lug 26 from the supporting-rod 27 and slightly moving the desk along the supportailowing a free passage ing-rod 25 it may be allowed to swing downward, as indicated. We provide an ink-well 28 in the top of each back-post.

Having thus fully described our invention, we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. A seat or chair, comprising side frames,

a back having swinging connection with one.

of the side frames, a seat having swinging connection with said side frame, a spring for swinging the back, a pin on the back and an inclined lug on the seat adapted to be engaged by said pin for swinging the seat with the back.

2. A seat or chair, comprising side frames, a seat hinged to the seat-rail of one of the side frames, a back mounted to swing relatively to the back-post of said side rail, a spring sup- 

